FIRSTS: It seems like a good time to talk about firsts.

From Students Knowledge, we have a list of first countries to legalize various things.

The first country to give women the right to vote was New Zealand. The “when” of it is quite impressive — 1893, a full 27 years before the United States with the 19th Amendment.

The first country to make education compulsory was Prussia (Germany) in the 1760s, under Frederick the Great. Prussia pioneered the model of universal, state-funded schooling for all children.

The first country to recognize internet access as a legal right was Finland, with a law coming into effect in 2010. 

The first country to legalize paid maternity leave shared between both parents? Sweden, in 1974. The International Labour Organization first recommended it in 1919, recommending 12 weeks of paid leave for women. According to the Organization of American Historians, there are only eight countries in the world that do not guarantee paid maternity leave at the national level for men or women: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Tonga, and the United States.

The first country to decriminalize homosexuality was France in 1791.

The first country to legalize recreational marijuana was Uruguay in 2013.

The United States does make it on the list, we were the first to legalize regulated surrogacy.

The U.S. was the first country to declare independence from Great Britain, and was recognized as a country first by Morocco.

Other firsts for the U.S. include first in flight, first walk on the moon, first computer, first artificial heart transplant, first national park with Yellowstone and so much more.